Saturday night, Clemson suffered their 3rd straight home loss to a P4 team, and their 4th straight loss to a team from the SEC. Once upon a time in the not-too-distant past Clemson was nearly unbeatable at home, and largly owned teams from the SEC. After the 17-10 loss to LSU, you have to ask is this simply who Clemson is now?
Capable of winning the ACC, but not a real playoff threat? A solid program, but with a ceiling of 10-11 wins? Clemson’s measure of success is different than most programs. They expect to be in the top 10 and be a contender for the national titles, not merely just good.
Should we buy or sell Clemson for the rest of the season?
BUY
- LSU might be a top 3 team. We already knew Garrett Nussmeier was one of the best QBs in the country, but that revamped defense is going to stone a lot of teams. Clemson has work to do, but they won’t see another front that good this year.
- I don’t think you’ll see another team hold LSU to 17 points the rest of the year. Tom Allen’s defense played well enough to win the game. Clemson can win a lot of games with that unit alone.
- Antonio Williams was out. When you lose your best WR so early in the game, it disrupts everything you try to do on offense. Hopefully it’s not serious and he’s back soon.
- An early loss is just that. Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois on September 7 and still made the national title game.
SELL
- The 17-10 score may not have reflected how much LSU dominated the game. They outgained Clemson by nearly 100 yards 356-262, outrushed Clemson 110-32, and nearly doubled the first downs 25-13. Oh, and they lost the turnover battle 1-2, and still won on the road. Those numbers are solid for the defense, but dreadful for the offense where the game was lost.
- Where did the Cade Klubnik hype come from? Some hailed Klubnik as the country’s best QB, but the fact is, he was outplayed by the opposing QBs of Louisville and South Carolina in the 4th quarter of the SMU game and against LSU. His hype was basically based on a 2nd half against Texas in a game that in reality, Clemson was barely in. He’s a QB while above average, doesn’t elevate his team in a way elite QBs do. He may not even be a top 5 QB in the ACC.
- Clearly, Klubnik can’t carry the team, and now a converted WR is your starting RB with a mediocre offensive line. Good defensive lines will expose this offense.
- Clemson can out-talent many teams on their schedule, but with a game at Georgia Tech, resurgent Florida State, SMU, a road game at Louisville, and South Carolina, it’s very conceivable Clemson goes 3-2 and misses the playoff without winning the ACC.
At the moment, you have to go with sell on the pre-season national title hype, until you can say something truly looks different than the previous seasons since 2020. That means Clemson is a team that should be ranked 15-25.
You can’t say there was much difference after Saturday night.
